Misfire!

[WhittlersMama]

And this is why you should wear glasses folks!!!

This happened about 6 years ago, out of a S&W model 39.  The gun has a lot of rounds through it, but this never happened before...  Peppered me real good!

Any ideas why?  Ever seen one before?  Think it hurt the pistol?  Ideas welcome....

[WhittlersMama]

They were UMC FMJ reloads, if that helps?

[yankee2500]

I have had that happen in my G-19 with some unknown ammo, good lesson is know what your shooting. I have shot many rounds after with no issues.
  The case gets thin when they have been reloaded a few times and can split and or blow out like yours did, also could have been a bad case or over pressure.

[kjtrains]

They were UMC FMJ reloads, if that helps?

I have never seen that before.  I did have a friend who wanted to shoot some of his .45 reloads in my .454 Ruger Alaskan and the last rd of six went pssst.  Needless to say, not a good sound; round stuck about an inch into the barrel;  gunsmith had to remove the round with no damage to gun.
 
Lesson learned for me; friends don't shoot their reloads in any of the guns I own.  I'm not against reloading, just their's.

[Reinz]

Before I even got to the second post I knew it was a reload.  

When they blow up at the bottom like that is us usually caused by the bullet not being crimped tight enough.
Not uncommon with auto bullets since they have to be taper crimped, every now and then a weak crimp gets by.
Thus, when the bullet hits the feed ramp, it  gets pushed back into the case which causes pressures to rise/spike dramatically when fired.
With such pressures and quick explosion,  the least supported part of the case and or weakest part is sure to go.  Thus, it blew out at the base , usually at the bottom or the top.

I have seen this quite a few times with 45 autos , 38 supers, and 9mm.

[kjtrains]

I thought they were reloads, too.  Then read the second post.  Yep.  Confirmed my suspicions.  

[WhittlersMama]

Before I even got to the second post I knew it was a reload.  

When they blow up at the bottom like that is us usually caused by the bullet not being crimped tight enough.
Not uncommon with auto bullets since they have to be taper crimped, every now and then a weak crimp gets by.
Thus, when the bullet hits the feed ramp, it  gets pushed back into the case which causes pressures to rise/spike dramatically when fired.
With such pressures and quick explosion,  the least supported part of the case and or weakest part is sure to go.  Thus, it blew out at the base , usually at the bottom or the top.

I have seen this quite a few times with 45 autos , 38 supers, and 9mm.

That made a whole lot of sense Reinz...  At first when reading, I was like, wouldn't a weak crimp do the reverse? Until you made your point about the slamming breach pushing the slug into the case leaving no room for expansion...

I'm telling you guy's it got me good!  Drew blood in two or three places on my hand and I felt the hot powder hit my face...  Always wear glasses, they saved my eyes, no doubt that day!

Thanks for all of the replies and ideas!  

I had a friend who had a deer slug fizzle like that.  The idiot (not knowing guns) figured he'd run another round to chase the old one out!  He put a 3" bubble in the barrel!  Lucky he didn't wind up like the cartoons!